Fresh produce regulation and private standards in Turkey: Implications for export markets

Abstract

During the last several decades, increased concerns on food contaminants urged policy makers to take precautionary measures in order to protect domestic markets from imported foods with unwanted residues and additives, and ensure food safety. Given their potential importance to impede international trade, it is much debated whether the standards are imposed on health protection grounds or may be abused to serve as non-tariff trade barriers, especially against the exports of developing countries. Introduction of ISO 22000, besides public and private standards, may be considered as a strategic step towards solidification of diverse international food safety regulations on a voluntary basis for producers. ISO 22000 also stands as a rather less expensive and more attainable alternative for most smallholders of developing countries in agricultural production. Using a gravity model, this research aims to assess the effect of ISO 22000 diffusion on fresh produce exports by developing countries with a specific focus on the Turkish case. A panel dataset is constructed for 22 importing and 24 exporting countries over the period 2007–2011. Exporting countries are selected from the class of developing countries that has more than 10 % of their GDP value added from agricultural sector and on the basis of data availability. Within the exporting countries, there are major exporters of fresh produce as well as those that are listed at the bottom of the world exporters of fresh produce, but all countries are assumed to have a potential for agriculture since they have at least 10 % of their GDP from agricultural sector. Findings reveal that ISO 22000 certification in developing countries has a profound impact on their export performance of vegetables and fruits. Diffusion of ISO 22000 certification in developing countries tends to increase their exports of vegetables and fruits by 37 % and 53 %, respectively.